Good real estate agents are hard to find, but why do you lose so many of yours? Most likely, it’s because you’re not treating them right, and when you don’t treat them right, they find someone who will. You can turn that around, though, but you gotta understand why that happened in the first place. We can’t say anything about your company specifically, but we do know why a majority of real estate agents leave their brokers, and we’ve presented that information for you below.
Top Reasons Why Real Estate Agents Leave
1. Unclear fee structure
Lack of clarity creates frustration. Complex and confusing desk fees and commission structures are one of the biggest reasons why employees leave. Even if your commission structure is generous but not laid out clearly, agents will get frustrated.
What’s worse is if your commission structure is both complex and uncompetitive. Like any other professional, real estate agents prioritize their income, so it’s vital to have a transparent and competitive pay structure. Never underestimate the motivating power of compensation.
If you have high turnover rates, check your pay structures first. Compare your rates with your competitor’s and learn whether they’re offering a better deal. If they are, you need to also step up your pay game.
2. Your firm’s reputation
Reputation matters in the real estate industry. If your brokerage has a bad reputation, it can lead to both agents and potential clients avoiding work with you. You won’t even know how much business you lose because of a bad reputation.
People don’t like being associated with bad firms. Suppose a brokerage ever gets on the news for mistreating clients, agents, or anyone else. In that case, you can be sure that an exodus of the firm’s best agents will follow. You can prevent that from happening by working on your reputation.
You should monitor what people say about you. Ideally, your brokerage should know everything people say about you and how they feel about your company. You need to proactively build a good reputation.
3. Poor leadership
Leadership is often the difference between successful and failed firms. In your case, your leadership needs to inspire your agents, and they need to feel you’re in the right direction. Bad leadership panics people.
Agents will flee from bad leaders. Leadership is crucial in the real estate industry because of how specialized this industry is. If your agents see you as a bad leader, they’ll bolt without a second thought.
You need to demonstrate effective leadership. You have to demonstrate to your agents that they can come to you with their problems, that you’ll effectively address their concerns and that you’re leading them in the direction. When done correctly, good leadership leads to high retention rates.
4. Lack of training
Proper training is vital in the real estate game. The better training you’re able to provide your agents, the likelier they are to see you positively and remain with you. Good training and mentoring are rare, after all.
Agents probably often come to you for guidance. Use these crucial moments to cement yourself as a real estate expert and prove to your agents that you can facilitate improvement in their skills. Mentoring is a slow and time-intensive activity.
You’ll have to invest a lot of energy in your agents. When your agents are appropriately mentored, they’ll remain loyal to you longer because they’ll recognize the degree of benefit you provide them is not easily found elsewhere. Good mentoring and training yield long-term dividends.
5. Personal reasons
Real estate agents are people too. Their personal lives, career goals, interests, and mental health all change over time, and sometimes an agent might want to leave the brokerage no matter how good they have it. You can’t blame yourself when this happens.
Some agents’ departure is unavoidable. You can’t do anything about an agent who’s leaving your firm because they’re getting married and moving to another city. You just have to accept that not every agent can work long-term.
Always be ready when this happens. When agents leave your company, you have to assess the reason, especially whether it was because of you. If they left because of their personal lives, you just have to let them go.
How to improve retention
It’s only after learning what you’ve done wrong that you can start to recognize what you can do right. In your case, the odds are that you just need to treat your agents a little better using the following tips.
1. Invest in their development
Your agents have their interests. In the end, they’re professionals like anyone else trying to make ends meet and advance their careers. You can support them by continually helping them improve.
Agents want to improve because it translates to increased career prospects. You can take advantage of their ambition by providing them with the means to improve what they want. Doing so creates an active reason to remain with you.
Your agents will appreciate your investment. You should notice a drastic improvement in agent retention after investing more in their improvement. When your agents feel associating with you is the best way to learn, they’ll stick by you.
2. Give them the tech they need to succeed.
Technology is integral for real estate agents. By providing your agents with the latest and greatest in real estate technology, or Proptech, you’ll make work easier for them. Every employee appreciates their lives being easier.
Give them a 3-D virtual reality tour generating system, for example. Your agents could use these devices to provide potential clients with virtual property tours, which increase the chances of a sale. There are many other Proptech you could provide too.
Another example would be extensive social media and marketing tools. Your agents could use these tools to improve their client outreach and attract more prospective clients to your business. It’d make sense for an agent to stay with a firm that provides such technology.
3. Offer support
Sometimes agents just need support. Like any other professional, real estate agents may at times feel overwhelmed or require positive emotional reinforcement. When such instances arise, you need to act properly.
Have an open-door policy. Your agents should be able to visit you whenever they need help, and you should be receptive to providing it to them. Just being there alone could improve your professional relationship with them.
Consider implementing a mentorship program. Mentorship programs are a great way to connect with your agents and provide them with the opportunity to learn from experienced members of the firm. Your agents will appreciate the knowledge provided to them.
4. Keep them abreast of trends and changes
Today’s real estate industry is fast-moving. You want all your agents to be fully aware of the latest market trends so that they’re best-prepared for succeeding in the field. They’ll appreciate you for keeping them up-to-date too.
The best-prepared agents also perform the best. Your firm should painstakingly make sure that every agent is provided with up-to-date information on the latest trends, especially in your local market. Your agents shouldn’t be ignorant of anything.
Information is a valuable resource. When your firm will become your agent’s primary source of new market information, and when that information actively benefits them, your agents will be likely to stay. After all, it’s not easy to find good intel.
5. Fairer share and competitive prices
Don’t treat your agents as if they’re expendable. Being a real estate agent is hard; they work long hours, depend on an active source of income, and at times they have to satisfy clients with extensive demands. Don’t make their lives worse with a bad revenue model.
Reward talent when you find it. Successful real estate agents are hard to come by, but when you do find them, you need to shower them with appreciation and benefits. These agents know their worth, and they’ll leave if they find a better deal.
You need to offer competitive rates. Not only will offering high rates help retain existing successful agents, but it’ll also make attracting new talent much easier as word will spread that your firm offers the best deal. Develop yourself as the company agents want to work for.
The real estate industry is a dynamic and fast-growing place. Your firm’s place in this industry depends a lot on your ability to retain agents, and you’ve got to prioritize satisfying your agent’s needs to do that. Agents are the likeliest to remain when their needs are met and they’re given a future with your company.
